High stakes for all top players in Jind bypoll

Chandigarh: The Jind Assembly byelection on January 28 has turned into a high-stake battle with all Haryana parties taking it as a litmus test in the Lok Sabha election year. In the final Jind battle after the withdrawal of the nomination papers, it has emerged that it will be a multi-corner contest between Krishan Midha of the ruling BJP, Randeep Surjewala of the Congress, Umed Redhu of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and Digvijay Chautala, an independent backed by the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP).

A win in Jind is likely to be seen by the Congress and the BJP as an indication of their popularity in the state, ahead of the Lok Sabha polls around May and Assembly polls around October.

For the INLD and its splinter group JJP the byelection would be indicator of which among the two is more relevant in state politics.

For the BJP, the Jind contest would be a prestige battle for chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar. The Khattar government, which claims to have provided clean governance in the state, will get to know the mood of the people ahead of the Assembly elections. It is making an all out effort to win the bypoll.

Feuding INLD leaders Abhay Chautala and his nephew Dushyant Chautala as well as the Congress led by former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda would also be eyeing a comeback in the state.

The chief minister has taken charge of the Jind byelection in his hands and lured Krishan Middha, son of former MLA, into the party fold. He announced several development works for Jind on the basis of the demands of Hari Chand Middha, which the late leader was to take up in the Monsoon Session of the Assembly.

The Congress also surprised all by fielding senior leader Randeep Singh Surjewala who is seen as a very strong candidate who has been fielded to trounce Vikas, son of independent MLA Jaiprakash, who was believed to be lead the pack.

Other senior Congress leaders too favoured a very strong candidate who could ensure party’s victory. It was then that the name of Randeep Surjewala was proposed and Congress central leadership gave a green signal to him.

One of the bigwigs of the Haryana politics, Randeep Surjewala, the AICC media co-ordinator, is one of the most trusted lieutenants of the Congress and is considered very close to the Gandhi family. He happens to be the trouble shooter for the Congress and is seen as one of the safest and the strongest bets at the moment.

The Congress feels that a victory in Jind byelection will be beneficial in two ways. First, it will boost the morale of the party workers before the Lok Sabha elections. Secondly, it will give a clear message to the ruling BJP in Haryana that it cannot take victory for granted.

The byelection is also a keen battle between the JJP, which was launched last month, and its former parent party INLD. The JJP has fielded its youth leader Digvijay Singh Chautala and the INLD has fielded Umedh Singh Redhu for the bypoll.

The byelection in Jind was necessitated by the death of INLD member of legislative Assembly Hari Chand Middha. In the 90-member House, the BJP has 47 MLAs, INLD 19 and Congress 15.